Tuesday, July 21, 2009

NECC Day 2 - Constructivist Celebration

I spent most of the second day at NECC at Sidwell Friends School at the Constructivist Celebration. The Constructivist Consortium is a group of educational software companies who have a focus on creativity and student empowerment. The group was formed (to the best of my knowledge) by Gary Stager. I heard Gary speak at Educon back in January so when I learned about the Celebration I immediately signed up. I didn't really know what to expect, I just figured it would be worth my time.

It definitely was. I enjoy hearing Gary speak. He is passionate and does not suffer fools. He might drive me nuts if I disagreed with him, but I don't so it works for me. He had representatives there from the different software companies and they gave us their software to explore. For a good portion of the day that is what we did. It was wonderful to have the opportunity and the time with the products.

I fell in love with Peter H. Reynold's products, Stationary Studio and Animation-ish. I can't wait for the year to start so that I can put Animation-ish up on my smartboard and we can begin creating. (It goes quite well with the book I am reading, Talking, Drawing, Writing.) Peter also spoke that afternoon and he is inspirational. His love of children and his passion in the power of creativity are contagious.

The other software that held great potential, in my opinion, was the stuff from Tech4Learning. I used Pixie quite a bit this past year and now I'm very excited by the possibilities in Frames.

The Constructivist Celebration was an inspiring, energizing day. It also was an opportunity for me to meet a lot of fabulous educators from around the country.

(I expect to be posting more about how I've used these products in the next several weeks as the school year gets rolling.)